My research has two objectives, the first is to explore the potential for the Sub-Saharan cities to transition towards water-resilient futures through approaches such as Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems from a sustainability transitions perspective. By looking at Addis Ababa, Dar es Salaam and Johannesburg i hope to understand the dynamics in each city’s urban water management sector, the drivers for change and the possibilities for addressing infrastructure deficits as well as sustainability and resilience concerns simultaneously. The second objective is to examine the extent to which theories of sustainability transitions may be applicable in the analysis of past, current states and tentative futures of urban water management systems in the respective cities and possibly how the realities in Addis Ababa, Dar es Salaam and Johannesburg can also conceptually-inform this body of theories.